Less than a day after Rep. John Conyers from Detroit announced his retirement from Congress amid sexual harassment allegations, a new accuser is coming forward speaking only to 7 Action News.
Delores Lyons worked for Conyers as a volunteer, not paid, and says on three different occasions Conyers sexually harassed her. The first time happened when she was driving in a car.
"He puts my hand in his lap, so I said, 'what are you doing?' and yanked my hand away," she said.
She showed 7 Investigator Jim Kiertzner pictures of her and the congressman's staff. She said another incident was during a public event at Wayne County Community College.
"It was the congressman and he was rubbing my hip," she added.
The third time happened when she said she was in downtown Detroit at an event in the open.
"He kind of walked by and let his hand run across my backside," she said. "And of course it's him, so I said, 'you know what, I'm gonna knock you out,' and he said, 'what?'"
Lyons worked in the office with another high profile accuser, Marion Brown, who told her story on The Today Show. They discussed at the time Brown was fired and paid $27,000 in a settlement.
Lyons is a former TV reporter, anchor, writer and producer, including working here in Detroit. She said coming forward is not an attack on the congressman with a half century in office, but she's hoping to make a change.
"What do you do or say about good people who behave badly?" she added. "There's a culture that supports that, hides that, and that's what I'm about changing."
Several city, county or state officials could now run for Conyers' seat, including his son and great nephew, and State Sen. Coleman Young, who just lost the race for Detroit mayor.
